Chapter 37 - The Events Begin on the Eighteenth Floor!

[Chapter Size: 3178 Words.]

Lucius POV

Dungeon, Eighteenth Floor.

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...

When I woke up, I still felt my head throbbing with pain from that damn staff. As soon as I opened my eyes, my hand went straight to the bump developed in the middle of my forehead.

"Riviera, you went so hard on me! How could you?!" I complained as I tried to get up, cursing my future wife a bit.

"Lucius-Kun!? You finally woke up!" Said a startled Aphrodite upon hearing my sudden voice.

"Aphrodite? How long have I been unconscious?" I asked without wasting time, as I imagine I might have missed some things.

"A whole day. Riviera brought you to the camp yesterday, although she didn't mention the reason for your injury or why you two were in the middle of an explosion that was heard throughout the floor..." She said thoughtfully, but I didn't make an effort to answer her curiosities and changed the subject.

"The Loki family, have they left already? I say this because I have the impression that it's just the two of us here, isn't it? What's happening with the rest of our group?" I asked, knowing that Riviera and the others should have gone to the surface right after the bath event.

But still, I didn't hear any noise coming from outside the tent, and seeing only Aphrodite here was a bit strange, 'Unless... darn... I'm quite late... why did I faint so close to such important events?!' I exclaimed internally.

I began to regret, while Aphrodite started to explain what was happening, and what I had imagined was indeed underway.

"Yes, they have already left because of some problems caused by some adventurers from Rivira. And you're right, only the two of us are here... You're not thinking of taking advantage of me and wanting to do something wrong with this beautiful goddess and her perfect body, are you, Lucius-kun?" She said in Aphrodite's usual narcissistic tone, seemingly more like she wanted to seduce me by showing off her body when she spoke these words than stating that it was wrong. Essentially, she was asking if she actually wanted me to take advantage of her, but there were other issues to address now, and Aphrodite confirmed my hypothesis.

"Aphrodite! Focus, tell me what happened!" I demanded, and she stopped the teasing.

Why did she suddenly become serious and speak without her usual tone?

"Bell and Hestia are in trouble. Hestia was kidnapped, and Bell is cornered by a group of adventurers. My daughters and the rest of the adventurers here decided to act and are going now to help Bell and Hestia. I stayed in case you regained consciousness, as I am useless in a fight." She stated everything I had imagined.

So, to keep me from being alone while I'm unconscious, she stayed to take care of me. I concluded with a mental note to thank her later.

"I wanted to be prepared for this earlier, but unfortunately, I had this problem with Riviera," I thought a bit frustrated.

"Let's find the others; I feel like this kidnapping will result in something big happening on this floor!" I said, and she looked at me with wide eyes, as she could sense if I was lying or not and heard only sincere truth from my vision of the future, the canonical knowledge.

"Yes, Lucius-kun!" She also got up quickly to accompany me.

I grabbed my leather armor that I had bought before meeting Riviera and put it on since I had healed myself with my spell and was almost 100% conscious now. I took a piece of cloth that looked somewhat burnt and torn, which I had obtained at the inn when I visited it, and went to the rubble yesterday, casting a spell on it.

[- Repair Clothing] The cloth began to expand, leaving Aphrodite open-mouthed at what was happening. Since there wasn't much for her to do here, she was paying full attention to what I was doing before we could leave.

The cloth expanded, gaining colors and details. This was my old cloak that had been torn and left at the inn even before the explosion. It was a part of my old outfit that I retrieved when I visited the inn yesterday, after asking the owner to let me go to the rubble, where I found it.

Now, looking at the wonderful piece, my cloak was in perfect condition, and I was pleased with it as I put it over my leather armor.

"That's amazing! I've never seen magic that repairs clothes; that's very useful..." Aphrodite exclaimed. As a woman, she obviously would like to be able to do that too, and I couldn't disagree with those shining eyes as she looked at my cloak.

"And this mage cloak looks so beautiful on you!" She also exclaimed.

"Thank you, now let's prepare to help them." I said, and she nodded.

In the end, I put two swords I found at the camp on my waist and some potions I found in a bag. I took everything I found; I had to prepare as much as I could. After all, the battle would be against a mutant Goliath.

We ran to where Aphrodite said her children were. I noticed that the goddess couldn't move like an adventurer, so I approached her.

"Huh? Lucius-Kun? What are you doing?!" She shouted as soon as I grabbed her and placed her like a princess in front of me. She blushed at that and was a little surprised, something I didn't think I would see in the goddess of love, considering the kind of goddess she is.

Don't mistake this for a romantic relationship; I'm just her friend, and what she does with her life is her problem. But I wouldn't deny having fun with her as a friend with benefits, just like I do with Demeter.

'Thinking like this, ever since my memories returned, I've only been having sex with goddesses! Forget about it, it's not the time to think about this, not now...' I concluded my thought and ended it. It wasn't the situation to think about these things.

"This is faster, Goddess Aphrodite. Your children, my family, and our friends are in danger, I feel it, so we can't be late!" I warned, and she nodded shyly. In the end, she put her head on my chest as we ran to the location.

It didn't take long to hear the sound of metals clashing ahead. I reached the cliff with Aphrodite and saw several adventurers on our side and the other, fighting each other. I saw Welf's magic sword fall off the cliff, and the elf Ryuu, whom I hadn't had contact with these days, appeared to save him on another hill. I noticed Hermes with Alfi while they watched the fight with Bell and the invisible adventurer calmly.

"Of course, all of this was done by the hands of that God. He wants to create trials for Bell, but I don't like him doing these things in the shadows," I thought angrily.

I put Aphrodite on the ground; here, we were above him, and it was a safe place for her to see her daughters fighting and how they were doing.

I saw that there were 20 adventurers fighting against our group, and another 20 were still watching the fight with Bell. So, I decided to end this charade, forming a wicked smile at this thought and walked to the edge of the cliff.

"All together in one place, nice and close to each other..." In my mind, these words appeared like music.

"Lucius-kun? Why are you smiling like that? It's scaring me..." Aphrodite, noticing my new expression, looked at me a bit cautiously with a perplexed expression.

I took a few steps without bothering to answer her and raised both hands to that group of adventurers.

"Lucius-kun..." She didn't finish what she wanted to say because a rain of fire erupted directly from my hands, heading straight for the group of adventurers who were still spectators of Bell, while he was taking a beating from those men's cowardly acts.

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

The small explosions above the adventurers elicited scared screams from everyone. No one was spared in my aim; soon, everyone stopped fighting, including Bell, who was staring stunned at a group of adventurers caught by the mini-fire bombs.

"I'm injured! Damn it!" a voice shouted.

"Who shot at us like this!"

"Lucas is unconscious!"

"Give me a healing potion; my arm is burnt!"

Various indignant cries were heard within the smoke.

Of course, I didn't kill anyone; I didn't shoot enough for that. But I could easily have killed half of them without them knowing where the attack came from when I shot at them unexpectedly.

The other adventurers and even Hermes were looking at the origin of the shot. Of course, that means me, who was next to a goddess with her mouth wide open, big enough to fit a golden egg from Jack Bird easily.

"What's the matter? Can't I join the fun?" I said arrogantly for the first time, showing my presence in the area, and my voice easily reached everyone's ears.

"Lucius!!"

"Lord Lucius!!"

"Lucius-Dono"

"Lucius-kun!"

On our side, several of my friends called my name happily with my sudden appearance. On the other side...

"Bastard!"

"I'm going to kill you for this."

"Come down, you bastard!"

"It's the bastard who destroyed the inn!"

"Someone grab him; I want to cut him."

"Who are you, you wretched piece of trash!?"

Seeing my new crowd of fans, I couldn't help but sigh. Adventurers and gods were looking at me at this exact moment, so it's time for me to formally introduce my true identity in this world, the name that I will leave marked in the history of this planet.

"Well, to start, I would like the author of this novel to put the song 'Black Clover OST - Pentagram' as background music while I make my magnificent presentation!" I said mentally.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lucius Drakenar, a member of the Hestia family and the greatest magical potential in this world, the one who will be known and called, the WIZARD KING, in the future!" I said shamelessly while raising my arms and shouting the part about the Wizard King as I looked at the crystal on the ceiling as something grand.

No one spoke after this presentation, but everyone had the same thing in their minds.

"What a narcissistic show-off!" Whether friends, enemies, or gods, everyone exclaimed this in their minds.

"What an idiot..."

"Hahaha, look at this guy."

"Wizard king? What nonsense is this?"

"I've never heard of this guy, and he's already calling himself a king."

I began to hear the comments of those who should be our enemies, and veins started appearing on my forehead.

"You bastards!" I said angrily and raised my hand, engulfing the enemy group in a shower of fire.

"AHHH!"

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE! SOMEONE MAKE THIS DAMN GUY STOP ATTACKING!"

"WHERE ARE THE ARCHERS?"

"DIE, YOU DAMNED!" I shouted like a demon in fury.

My grandiose aura of being a Wizard king was replaced by a heartless demon as I burned adventurers imperiously like an AK-47. The sound of fire coming from my hands sounded like a machine gun, while I laughed at others' misfortune.

While I burned the guys who were running around trying to escape my fire, my friends looked at this scene wordlessly, raising a question.

"How much energy does this guy have?" They wondered to themselves. Even Bell, Welf, and Lili, who had already seen a bit of my capabilities, were still amazed at the rain of fire I was unleashing without even breaking a sweat.

"Hmm... Nicole? Why doesn't Mr. Lucius seem to be draining his mental energy when he throws countless fireballs and continues at this pace? Is that possible?" said one of Aphrodite's daughters, wondering how Lucius was throwing fire like it was nothing and still laughing strangely in that attack.

"I am a mage, but I haven't seen or heard of anyone who can do this. It seems like his energy is inexhaustible, not to mention he only needs to raise his hand to unleash this fire. I saw him do it tirelessly during all the intermediate floors while escorting me, which surprised me. But he's doing it now. I'm wondering how I was mistaken about him back then. I'm still wondering when he will stop casting so much magic so carelessly!" reported the dark-haired human whom Lucius had helped once.

"How is this possible?" Ryuu, the elf who was watching, was stunned while seeing level one and two adventurers screaming and fleeing, their clothes and equipment burning, and their skin covered in burns. It was a scene to pity the enemy, even for her.

"We don't even know," lamented Welf. He saw Lucius's fight with Goliath and found it surreal, but there was Lucius again, casting spells like an artillery weapon, not that Welf had any idea of what that is and the concept.

"Well... this is unexpected. He doesn't seem to tire..." Hermes said, squinting from the other side of the hill while watching Lucius practically alone, making a group of level two and one adventurers retreat.

"He's only level two; he should never have this much energy. Even for mages at my level, if they cast half of this attack scale, they would already be in mind-zero," Alfi said, equally surprised at Lucius's magical abilities.

"Interesting, looks like we have another variable here..." concluded Hermes with a mysterious smile.

But this didn't last long because the other 20 adventurers who were closer to Lucius, fighting against his friends, began to climb the cliff to fight and stop the magic maniac who was hurting their other friends.

"It seems the fun is over, Aphrodite. Take a few steps back while I deal with these adventurers," I said to Aphrodite, bringing her out of her dazed thoughts from the observations so far.

She nodded, still dazed, but stepped back as I waited for my new adversaries to approach. I increased all my stats by 10%, making myself a level two adventurer with average physical stats of rank C. I cast Iron Skin to give my skin a grayish appearance, and my sword created a lightning aura with rank 2 magic.

My interrupted magic made them resume fighting and regroup as many of them took healing potions to alleviate their burns. Bell returned to his duel with the invisible man wielding the artifact Hermes had given him, but now the young novice had the advantage against the older man, observing all his movements with his heightened senses.

As the first five appeared on the cliff where I was, I cast my spell as they approached running towards me.

[Gravitational Spell, Gravitational Field!]

The men went straight to the ground, limiting all their movements.

[Fire Spell, Multi-Firebolt!]

Four fireballs appeared around me and were launched directly into the midst of them.

"AHH! That hurts, you bastard!"

"Damn, how can he have the energy to cast so many spells at once?!"

"It must be some artifact! It's not possible!"

I didn't waste time with their complaints and started kicking their heads. The gravitational spell was canceled, so I could move freely while they were distracted by their burns.

I managed to knock out two of them without them being able to react, and exchanged blows with the other three, knocking out one more shortly afterward. The last two were still standing, looking at me cautiously. One managed to cut my arm with a small cut, but a green glow made the wound quickly heal right before their eyes.

'How I love my powers!' I exclaimed mentally.

I then cast another gravitational field, confusing them, and canceled it to run towards them with a kick to each one, throwing both down the cliff. They screamed as they fell onto their other comrades climbing the cliff.

I didn't waste time, as the fight up here would become boring and could harm Aphrodite. So, I jumped to keep up with the falling unconscious men.

My descent brought me to join my friends who were still fighting. I noticed Bell cutting his opponent's sword at that moment.

"Yo, need any help here?" I said with a smile as everyone exchanged sword blows with their opponents.

"It's good to see you here, man!" Welf shouted in relief.

"Lord Lucius!" Some of Aphrodite's girls exclaimed.

"Lucius-Dono!" Mikoto said amid her group, making me wonder when she started adding "Dono" to my name.

Not caring about it anymore, I waited for my first opponent to approach running, aiming at him, and releasing a fireball. This made him try to protect himself with his arms covering his face, giving me an opening to hit him with the hilt of the sword on his head, knocking the man out.

I was ready to attack the next man who was coming to fight me angrily and help my friends when suddenly, I heard a voice from someone familiar that even made all my hairs stand on end with the pressure of the tone.

"STOP THIS!" She simply said these words that echoed throughout the place; there was a hint of arcanum in her voice, but no one seemed to notice.

Hestia appeared, and her anger was visible in her voice, but no one stopped to listen to her. Then she did something that rarely a God would do, but when it comes to the well-being of her family, she wouldn't mind.

*BOOM* An aura exploded, making everyone stop fighting immediately as they looked at Hestia cautiously at this moment; no one wanted to mess with an enraged god.

Hestia was glowing, with her hair ties falling to the ground; the glow turned her hair reddish.

"Is this her true form? Redhead?" I wondered as I looked at her walking among all the enemy adventurers, who were backing away in fear while everyone on our side was kneeling, except me, of course. I can respect her as my goddess, but I won't kneel or flatter any god; I have my pride.

She walked up to Bell, making even his aggressor run in fear into the forest.

"It's almost time," I said, looking at the sky while everyone was celebrating that Bell was safe.

"Lucius-kun?" Aphrodite, who arrived by my side, asked me why I was looking at the ceiling while everyone was happy and celebrating.

"It's coming," I simply said that, and everyone looked in my direction, questioning what I was talking about.

Of course, I didn't feel anything special, but I wouldn't miss the opportunity to look badass here.

A little after my words, the ceiling began to crack, frightening everyone as the entire floor trembled with the roars of titans.

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